One way in which telecommunication service providers provide high-speed digital communication services is by using digital subscriber line (DSL) technology. In one typical configuration, a line unit located in a central office of a service provider communicates with a remote unit located at a remote site. The central office line unit communicates with the remote unit over a high bit-rate digital subscriber line 2 (HDSL2) communication link or a symmetric digital subscriber line communication link supporting the ITU G.991.2 standard (referred to here as “G.SHDSL”). Such a HDSL2 or G.SHDSL link uses one twisted-pair telephone line. In other configurations, the central office line unit communicates with the remote unit over a high bit-rate DSL (HDSL or HDSL1) or a high bit-rate DSL 4 (HDSL4) communication link using two twisted-pair telephone lines.
The line unit and the remote unit typically include various components such as a hybrid circuit, a line driver, an analog front end, a digital signal processing (DSP) engine, a T1/E1 framer, and a T1/E1 line interface unit along with a microprocessor and different types of memory. Typically the T1/E1 framer, DSP engine, and microprocessor are physically embodied in separate components. This can lead to increased costs in constructing a line unit or remote unit from these components due to, for example, increased costs associated with procuring, integrating, and testing the different components.